1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a card case, an IC card, and an IC card unit.
2. Related Art
In recent years, cards containing personal information such as an ID card and a credit card have been in use for electronic commerce and the like. In order to prevent fraudulent transactions of these cards, some cards can authenticate the card user by acquiring the user's personal information so as to confirm that the user is the right card owner.
For example, an IC card using fingerprint information for the authentication has been proposed, in that: the fingerprint information of an individual is read out; a fingerprint authentication chip that determines authenticity of the read out fingerprint is mounted on the IC card; and by determining whether the fingerprint authentication information stored inside the chip matches with the read out fingerprint information, the individual's authentication is conducted (e.g., JP-A-2004-220175).
In order to prevent malfunctions, electric consumption increase, and the like of the IC card, such an IC card is equipped with a switch, for example, that controls on/off of the IC card. Further, since the fingerprint authentication chip is exposed on the surface of the IC card, the IC card is generally held in a card case when not in use so as not to damage the fingerprint authentication chip.
However, when the IC card is encased in a card case, the switch and a fingerprint sensor are also inside the card case. Therefore, in order to acquire the biometric information by turning on the power of the IC card in this situation, the user must go through the trouble of taking out the IC card from the card case each time. In particular, if the user uses the IC card frequently, it is troublesome to put the IC card in and out of the card case every time he or she uses the IC card. Further, if the user frequently puts in and out the IC card, the fingerprint authentication chip can be easily damaged.